Wall Street loves Nuance Communications Inc., whose stock is up nearly
5% early Tuesday afternoon after announcing a
$293
million deal for VoiceSignal Technologies Inc. Shares in the acquisitive
voice software maker have
more
than doubled in less than a year as the market for speech recognition gear
finally takes off.
"Strategically speaking, we loudly applaud this deal, as adding VoiceSignal
Technologies removes a very capable competitor and expands NUAN's footprint in
the fertile mobile landscape, which is slowly, but surely, morphing into a major
growth catalyst for the company," said Friedman Billings Ramsey analyst Daniel
Ives in a research note Tuesday on the transaction.
Nuance has also proved skillful in integrating its more than a
dozen
purchases. More broadly, among the factors driving demand for voice tech are
increases in chip speed, falling memory costs and the emergence of new markets,
including cell phones and cars, says investment guru James Hale in
a
January post on SeekingAlpha. —Alain
Sherter
See
May 15 story from TheDeal.com
See
Dec. 8, 2006, story from TheDeal.com
See
Jan. 11 post from SeekingAlpha
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